Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Cover Photos for Around the World

My friend and professional photographer Michelle Ellis stopped by last week to take the final cover photos for my forthcoming cookbook Vegan Lunch Box Around The World.

For the cover I wanted something special, so I chose my son's number one favorite lunch from his first year at school. That turned out to be the lunch I packed him for Chinese New Year: Tofu Char Sui on a bed of brown rice, Teriyaki Green Beans, a steamed dumpling filled with sweet bean paste, mandarin orange segments, and kiwi fruit.

I set up three different Laptop Lunch Boxes to provide the cover designer with three different looks to choose from: a sophisticated, more adult look in a black bento box, the more playful purple bento to the left, and the adorable, pink, child-friendly smiling dumpling bento above. Guess which is my favorite?

Oh I can't wait for the around the world recipes! I love the "no cuteness" rule... I can totally see an 11-year old being a little put off by opening his lunch around a group of friends and them all seeing a smiling steamed dumpling! But, I definitely want to learn how to make those dumplings.

I wouldn't recommend using the ones with the chopsticks sticking out of the green beans. Leaving your chopsticks stuck into your food is considered bad manners, much like leaving a fork standing in your scoop of mashed potatoes would be.

Hi Jennifer!This is kind of random, but you used to have a link to a chinese website that sold fake animal products like fake shrimps and fake wings and stuff, i cant remember what it was called. it was like mai wei or something to that effect, do you remember what it was?thanks a bunch!

Wow -- just by reading all of this, I can't wait to experiment over the summer with my children. I'm no vegan, but I do tend to create veggie meals once in a while. I've been following this blog for a few years and your presentation is awesome, yet so simple!

We've selected you as our Foodista Food Blog of the Day for this Saturday, July 25th! Your blog on “Cover Photos for Around the World” will be featured on the Foodista homepage for 24 hours. This is a new feature that we recently launched and are thrilled to post your blog.

We are really enjoying your blog and look forward to seeing your recipes, tips and techniques on Foodista!

Cheers,

Melissa Peterman

melissa@foodista.comEditor and Community Developer206.818.5724www.foodista.comFoodista- The Cooking Encyclopedia everyone can edit!